A Pennsylvania immigration judge has denied bail to Subramanyam Vedam, a 64-year-old man who spent 43 years in prison before his murder conviction was overturned, ensuring his continued detention while he contests deportation proceedings. The decision came during Tuesday’s hearing in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where Immigration Judge Tamar Wilson ruled that mandatory detention was required due to Vedam’s prior felony drug conviction.
Vedam’s extraordinary legal journey began when a Pennsylvania judge overturned his murder conviction in August, based on previously undisclosed ballistics evidence from his 1980 trial. Instead of gaining freedom, Vedam was immediately transferred to immigration custody on October 3, where he remains at an 1,800-bed ICE facility in central Pennsylvania.
The Board of Immigration Appeals has agreed to review Vedam’s case this month, acknowledging exceptional circumstances that warrant examination. His legal team, led by attorney Ava Benach, argues that Vedam would likely have obtained citizenship decades ago were it not for the wrongful murder conviction. According to Benach, Vedam would have completed his sentence for a minor LSD delivery offense by 1992 under the immigration laws then in effect.
Support for Vedam extends beyond his legal team, with Centre County prosecutors and State College Mayor participating remotely in Tuesday’s hearing. Vedam’s family connections to the community run deep—his late father was a renowned Penn State University professor, and the family originally came to the U.S. legally from India when Vedam was just nine months old.
The Department of Homeland Security maintains that ‘criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.,’ while Vedam’s sister Saraswathi Vedam describes her brother as remarkably resilient despite profound injustice. No further hearings have been scheduled yet to address the merits of the deportation case.